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Because no one asked her about it.

One possible reason: Tavenner’s hearing was in a different committee. She testified before the Ways and Means Committee, not Energy and Commerce, where Sebelius testified Wednesday — and where the contractors also pointed the finger at Tavenner’s agency last week. Ways and Means had a different set of questions for her — and “who killed the browsing feature?” wasn’t one of them.

Forget the cancelled policies – you’ll get something better

Sebelius and House Democrats had their counteroffensive ready when Republicans blasted away at their latest theme — all the people who have individual insurance and are getting cancellation letters because their policies don’t meet Obamacare standards.

The Democratic message to those people: Your insurer screwed you by changing your plan too much. And if you shop for an Obamacare plan, you might find a better option anyway.

Prodded by softball questions from Democrats, Sebelius told the committee that if insurers had followed the rules, they could have had “grandfathered” status for any policies that were already in effect when Obamacare was signed into law. All they had to do, she said, was avoid changing the policy too much between then and now.

“What they couldn’t do was cancel benefits that the plan holders had in effect. They couldn’t disadvantage the policyholder,” Sebelius said.

Insurers, however, say HHS put so many conditions on the “grandfathered” protections that most individual insurance policies couldn’t keep that status for very long. Under the regulations, health insurance plans lose their grandfathered status if they eliminate coverage for a particular condition or require big increases in the amount the consumers have to pay out of pocket, like co-payments or deductibles.

Sebelius also said it’s rare for anyone to stay in the individual insurance market for years anyway — unlike the group health plans that people get through the workplace — because those policies have been canceled so easily under pre-Obamacare rules. Now, she said, people can’t be rejected for pre-existing conditions while they could before.

And if people get the letters, Sebelius said, their insurer has to offer a replacement — but they can also look for an Obamacare plan that might have better benefits anyway, and they might get a subsidy for it.

But none of those points were an emotional match for all the letters Republicans read from angry constituents whose coverage was canceled — or for all the Republicans who reminded Sebelius of Obama’s promises that if they liked their plan, they could keep it.

“I work for Sean. You work for Sean. Sean lost his plan. There are millions of Seans throughout this country who have lost their insurance,” said Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.). “I think you should give Sean a better answer than, ‘You can shop around for a better plan.’”

No, Sebelius can’t go into the exchange

The applause lines of the day came when two Republicans — Reps. Cory Gardner of Colorado and Billy Long of Missouri — told Sebelius she should give up her federal health coverage and go into the health exchange herself.

“Why aren’t you losing your health insurance? Why aren’t you on the exchange?” Gardner demanded. “You could drop your coverage. You have a choice.”

Sebelius said she actually couldn’t do that — because her workplace coverage means she doesn’t qualify. “If I have affordable coverage through the workplace, I am not eligible for the marketplace,” she said.

And that’s technically true — you don’t get the Obamacare tax credit for health coverage if you can get insurance through the workplace whether you take it or not.

But there was another answer that Sebelius apparently forgot: She now gets part of her coverage through Medicare. And you can’t get Medicare through the Obamacare exchange. Sebelius turned 65 earlier this year but still gets some benefits through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

“Marketplace plans may not be sold to a Medicare enrollee, and the secretary is a Medicare enrollee,” said HHS spokeswoman Joanne Peters.

The ‘gotcha’ questions

Republicans managed to put Sebelius on the spot with some of their questions, especially on the exchange enrollment figures and the canceled policies. But they also drifted into “gotcha” questions, too — and the “will you drop your health coverage?” discussion was just one example.

Other Republicans lobbed requests at Sebelius that were pretty much designed to be rejected. Rep. Michael Burgess of Texas asked Sebelius if she would promise to fire Gary Cohen, who runs the office in charge of Obamacare implementation, “because he has repeatedly come before this committee and misled us” about the readiness of the website.

“I will not, sir,” Sebelius responded.

Rep. Phil Gingrey of Georgia asked Sebelius if she would give a “hardship exemption” from the individual mandate to all 16 million Americans who get health insurance in the individual market, suggesting all of their policies are being canceled.

“No sir, and I think those numbers are far from accurate,” Sebelius said. “We will not have a blanket exemption.”

And when Rep. Gregg Harper of Mississippi pressed her over and over again to say that Obama should take responsibility for the website failures, Sebelius resisted. “I am responsible for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act,” she said.

But after Harper persisted — insisting that Obama must be responsible in some way for his signature initiative — Sebelius gave in with an exasperated make-it-stop answer.